Chapter 10 – A storm may arise from a clear sky, refining Gu is full of hardships
Pitter patter…
Big, heavy raindrops fell to the earth, battering the roof of the verdant bamboo house, making brittle
sounds.
The surface of the pond in front of the building was full of ripples as the rain fell, the fish in the water
swimming lively around, the aquatic nts swaying about at the bottom of the pond. The sky was
overcast; a thick rain curtain obscured the field of vision as far as the eye could see.
In the somewhat dim room the window was open, and Fang Yuan quietly watched the heavy rainfall,
sighing.
“It has already been 3 days and 3 nights.”
On the night 3 days ago he had walked out of the vige with two jars of wine, searching around the
surroundings. But when it waste into the night it started pouring rain. Put aside him being drenched
to the bones, the main point was that in the situation he could not go about searching anymore.
The rainwater would quickly wash away the wine fragrance. At the same time if he forced himself to
search under such conditions, it might arouse suspicions. Although previously he pretended to be
a depressed drunken person to cover up his real motives, but he knew never to underestimate the
intelligence of others around him. Only a fool would think others were stupid.
Thus under this helplessness, Fang Yuan could only stop his search.
Not too mention that the moment it started raining, the rain had went on continuously. Sometimes it
became heavier and sometimes lighter, but it never stopped.
“I guess in this way, I won’t be able to find the Liquor worm for a short period of time. To be safe I can
only choose to start refining the Moonlight Gu. While I refine it, if I can find the Liquor worm during the
process it would be the best, but if I can’t then this would have to do. But this matter is verymon; a
storm may arise from a clear sky, something unexpected may happen anytime. In this world who can
do everything without obstacles in his way, having a perfect journey?”
RêAdt??St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only
Fang Yuan’s thoughts were very calm; his 500 years of experience had long washed away the
impulsiveness that he rarely had in the first ce.
He closed the door and window and sat cross-legged on his bed. He closed his eyes slowly and after
breathing a few times, he calmed his state of mind.
In the next moment the vision of his primeval aperture appeared in his mind. The aperture may be
positioned inside his body but it was mysteriously unusual, limitlessly big and yet infinitely small. The
outeryer of the aperture was ayer of light. The white light gave a thin impression, but it still
supported the aperture well.
In the aperture was a sea of primeval essence. The seawater was a green copper color, the surface of
the sea clear and calm as a mirror. The water level was about half the height of the aperture. The entire
volume of the sea upied 44% of the aperture.
This was the green copper primeval sea of a Rank one Gu Master, and every drop of seawater was
primeval essence. It was Fang Yuan’s life elementary force and the condensation of his essence,
vitality and soul.
Every drop of primeval essence was precious, because it was the root of a Gu Master, and was the
source of power. Gu Masters need to rely on primeval essence to refine and use Gu.
As he retreated his mind from the primeval sea, Fang Yuan opened his eyes retrieved the Moonlight
Gu. The Moonlight Gu quietly sat in the middle of his palm, resembling a curved blue moon, small and
crystalline.
With a simple thought, the primeval sea in his aperture tumbled and a jet of primeval essence broke
from the sea surface and transferred out of the body, finally rushing into the Moonlight Gu. The
Moonlight Gu suddenly radiated fiercely in blue light, slightly trembling in Fang Yuan’s palm, resisting
the influx of primeval essence.
Gu are the essence of heaven and earth, carrying the secrets of the world, the bearers of thew of
nature. They are living creatures that live freely under the sky, each born with a will of its own. Right
now with Fang Yuan trying to refine it, it would mean wiping out its will. Feeling the danger looming, the
Moonlight Gu naturally resisted.
The process of refining is a very difficult one.
The Moonlight Gu was like a curved crescent moon. As the green copper primeval essence poured into
the crescent, the two pointed ends of the crescent turned green. Slowly this green copper essence
began to spread to the middle of the crescent moon.
In less than three minutes, Fang Yuan’s face had be pale. A huge volume of primeval essence
continuously poured into the Moonlight Gu, making him feel a weakness that rapidly attacked his heart.
1%, 2%, 3%… 8%, 9%, 10%.
Ten minutester, Fang Yuan’s primeval sea had used away 10% of primeval essence. Yet on the blue
crystalline Moonlight Gu’s surface, the points of green copper essence on the two tips of the crescent
only expanded a tiny little area towards the center.
The resistance of the Moonlight Gu was immensely strong. Fortunately Fang Yuan had anticipated this
earlier and did not feel surprised. He persisted and poured in more essence into the Moonlight Gu.
1%, 2%, 3%…
After another twenty minutes, the primeval sea in Fang Yuan’s body was only left with 14%. The green
copper essence on the Moonlight Gu had expanded slightly, the two tips of green essence adding up
together covering the surface of the Moonlight Gu by about 1/12. The rest of the Moonlight Gu’s
surface was still the original color of light blue.
“Refining a Gu is so hard,” Fang Yuan sighed as he looked at it. He broke the influx of primeval
essence, stopping the refining process.
Up until now, he had been refining for half an hour, the primeval sea in his aperture consumed over
more than half, with only 14% of primeval essence left. And the Moonlight Gu was only refined by 1/12
of it.
To make matters worse the Moonlight Gu was still emitting its faint blue halo. Even though Fang Yuan
had stopped refining, the Moonlight Gu did not stop resisting; it was still driving out Fang Yuan’s green
coppery primeval essence.
Fang Yuan could clearly feel that the primeval essence that he poured into the Moonlight Gu was being
pushed out, bit by bit by the Moonlight Gu out of its body. On its surface, the green copper essence at
the two tips of the moon crescent was slowly shrinking.
Based on this speed of reduction, in about six hourster the Moonlight Gu would be able topletely
expel all of Fang Yuan’s primeval essence. At that time when he needed to refine this Gu it would make
no difference from starting over again.
“Every time when refining Gu, it is just like a fight between two armies, a battle of positional warfare, or
war of attrition. Even though I refined 1/12 of the Gu, I wasted three quarters of my primeval essence.
When refining Gu, a Gu Master has to replenish his primeval sea while continuously engaging the
refinement process, consolidating his victory. The refinement of a Gu is a test of one’s skill in shifting
his primeval essence and the patience of an enduring battle.”
Fang Yuan took out a piece of primeval stone from his moneybag as he pondered.
A Gu Master had two ways to replenish the consumed primeval essence. The first way was natural
recovery. After a period of time the primeval sea would naturally replenish the primeval essence. In the
case of a C grade talent like Fang Yuan, it would take about one hour to replenish 4% of primeval
essence. In six hours it could recover 24% points of the total quantity primeval essence.
The second way was to absorb the natural essence directly from a primeval stone.
The primeval stone is a treasure from nature itself. As condensed natural primeval essence, while
absorbing it the water level of the primeval sea was rising with a continuous speed that could be seen
with the naked eye.
After about half an hour the primeval sea had been replenished back to its original volume of 44%. At
this level the rising water level of the sea stopped abruptly. Even though there was still space inside the
aperture, Fang Yuan could not store any more primeval essence. This was the limit of his C grade
talent.
Thus from here one can see the significance of the grade of one’s cultivation talent. The higher the
talent, the more primeval essence the aperture can hold, and the faster the natural recovery of the
primeval essence will be.
In Fang Yuan’s case to refine a Gu and solidify his results, he would have to absorb primeval stones
because his primeval essence natural recovery rate cannot defeat the rate of the Moonlight Gu
expelling it out.
However in the case of the A grade talent Fang Zheng, he could replenish 8% of primeval essence
every hour. In six hours he would recover 48% of primeval essence, and in the same time frame the
Moonlight Gu could only expel away 3% points of primeval essence. Fang Zheng did not require the
external help of a primeval stone. He could go on refining with a few rests in the process and
sessfully refine the Moonlight Gu in a few days.
That was why Fang Yuan knew from the beginning that in this test, to refine the Moonlight Gu he never
had the chance to obtain the first position. It had nothing to do with a person’s actual strength, as the
first factor was the grade of talent.
The second factor would be primeval stones. If there was an abundance of primeval stones, without
hesitation to consume, a B grade talent could also surpass an A grade talent and obtain the first
position.
“In my hands are six pieces of primeval stones. I cannotpare to Gu Yue Mo Bei or Gu Yue Chi
Chen, these kinds of people who have their elder family members supporting them from behind. My
talent is on C grade, and cannot bepared to Fang Zheng who has an A grade talent. I never had a
chance of winning in this test. Why not divert my energy and go look for the Liquor worm? If I can make
the Liquor Worm into my vital Gu it would be so much better than the Moonlight Gu. Hmm? The sound
of rain outside the window has gotten lighter, there seems to be a sign of ceasing. The rain has been
ongoing for three days and three nights, it should be time it stopped.”
Fang Yuan kept the Moonlight Gu and got down from his bed. As he was about to open the window,
there was a knock on the door.
Outside the door came his servant Shen Cui’s voice, “Young master Fang Yuan, its me. It has been
raining straight for three days, so I brought you some food and wine. Young master can eat and drink
and ease some depressed feelings.”